Alpacas, fiber arts, crafts and more.

I’m not quite sure where the last week has gone, but my habit tracker tells me I haven’t posted since the third of this month. I have had intentions of doing a post every three to four days, but I seem to have slipped slightly wayside lately. There really isn’t a legitimate excuse, aside from the days just slipping by.

On the upside, I haven’t been completely negligent in my activities. As many of you know, I do have an Etsy Shop where I have several of my patterns listed. Plus, I also sell ready-to-ship items. I have taken some time to update a couple of my patterns, plus tweak some of my listings. My highlight of the week, however, was listing patterns on Craftsy.

I have been a Craftsy member for quite some time, and have downloaded patterns and watched classes from there. I have been pleased with my experience, and after talking with a friend, decided to list some of my patterns there as well. I listed on a May 5th, and had my first sale May 7th. I was so excited! Pattern sale number two came on the 10th, and it can only go up from there.

In one of my earlier posts I talked about earning money from pattern sales. I hadn’t tried Craftsy as a platform yet, so couldn’t give an honest opinion on it. Now that I have seen such quick positive results, I feel I can endorse it. And let it be known the sales were made even before I attempted any marketing. I have since pinned them on Pinterest, so anticipate additional sales over time.

As a designer, it’s a good idea to keep options open in terms of where you list and promote your patterns. Etsy has been good to me, as I have sold ten of my Airy Crocheted Top patterns there so far. That particular pattern is my best-seller, next to my weaving sticks. I can only hope to continue to sell several more of each, plus others.

Getting the word out about your designs can be a little intimidating and overwhelming, especially if you are an introvert like me. Marketing has never been my strong suit, but I am gradually getting better. I do much better promoting the work of others than my own, but that’s not a bad thing. We all have to help one another, so utilizing sites such as Pinterest is beneficial. As a way to help others promote their work, I started a group board. The nice thing about a group board is the pins reach not only your followers, but also the followers of other group members.

For example, if you have 200 followers and pin to a regular board, only 200 people (at most) will see your pin. If you belong to a group board with ten members and each has 200 followers, that’s 2000 potential viewers. Do you see the benefit? And, the number I used is less than what most people have, so the reach can be much greater.

If you are on Pinterest and are looking for another way to market your products and patterns, check out my board. The instructions for joining are in the description,so feel free to send me your request. I look forward to having more collaborators, and it will give you one more avenue for your marketing efforts.

Midnight is quickly approaching, so I really must call it a night. I’m looking forward to seeing your designs on the Pinterest group board.

As an avid Pinterest user, I do my fair share of checking out patterns and crafts. I found some pins for vests and sweaters, done in the round. I like to make my own version of things, so decided to try my hand at a Mandala Vest. It took some frogging to get it figured out, but so far so good now. The photo is of what I have so far. I just hope I don’t run out of yarn before it’s big enough to wrap up in. This one will probably become my keep-at-work vest, and the next one will be brighter and the pattern written as I go along. This one will definitely be one of a kind.

4 thoughts on “Are You a Pattern Designer?”

WOW…KEEP IT UP HON…PRETTY IMPRESSIVE START FOR YOUR PATTERN SALES…TIME REALLY HAS BEEN SLIPPING AWAY…HAVE MISSED YOU (HERE AND ELSEWHERE)…PLEASE BE SAFE AND WELL…THANKS AND TAKE CARE…HUGS AND LOVES…Love Me

I hear you about time slipping away! No matter how many lists and reminders I set for myself – poof- the day is gone! I love how that vest is coming out! I usually go rogue with my crochet too – I look at a lot of pictures and patterns then stitch a little bit of “me” into the design with some little tweaks! I am interested and intimidated about selling patterns. I guess I just worry that somewhere out there someone had the same design as me and are selling there’s also. I worry about accidentally infringing on someone else’s design. What tips do you have that could help me get over this (maybe) needless worry so that I could eventually publish patterns of my design? Love the vest by the way! Crochet in the round always looks so pretty – even if the same stitches are used in a standard back and forth row, they still seem to look so much more intricate when done in a round. 😀

Tami, unless you’re copying someone else’s pattern word for word, you shouldn’t have to worry about infringement. I like to look at an item, then create my version. I will say something like “inspired by XYZ” if another design seems similar. Every person’s technique and interpretation are different. The hardest part is getting started. I was terrified in the beginning, but it does get easier. The key thing to remember is to test your pattern as if it was one you got from elsewhere. Is it easy to follow? Is the terminology correct? If you’re not sure, then have a friend test it; preferably one who will be honest. I have caught mistakes when going over a pattern stitch by stitch. And if you do realize there is an oops after publishing, it’s easy enough to change it and send updates to customers. Craftsy automatically sends updates if a new version is published.

Thank you! The vest will continue to grow until I run out of the yarn in the repeats. I will post a picture of the finished product after I hide all the loose ends.

Thank you! This was very helpful. My biggest problem is remembering to write anything down! So even patterns that are just for myself to use I can’t remember how I made it the first time. 🙂 I need to get a notebook and tell myself before I even start that to write every stitch down then go through and tidy it up after. I would definitely have a few people test it since I know how frustrating it is to download a written pattern only to find out half way through it that something doesn’t add up. 😀